IN WHICH Summer Torres goes AWOL on her friends for a year and finally reunites with them to surf State Nationals with a friend to tag along, Pandora Falstar, the one she left in New York last year. Summer soon realizes how things have changed for h...
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Walking out of the bathroom with a sigh, Summer adjusts her outfit to look good. "Hey!" Wren smiled at Summer. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She asked. "Sure" Summer nods, walking up to her.
"Uh, look, um..." Wren says as she rubs her lips together; "I have no idea why the selectors rewarded what happened, but it so confirmed everything Ari told me about you".
"What's that?" Summer questions with a smile, hoping for something good. "Well, that you're an entitled brat who'll do anything for the slightest bit of attention" Wren stated. Summer smile faded away and she raised a brow, stiffly nodding. "Well... whatever you've heard, we're on the same team now" Summer scoffs softly. "So you might want to play nice".
"Yeah, and this team is about taking my career to the next level" Wren said; "So I'm not going to let you ruin it".
"Come on, Summer" Wren said. "We both know you don't deserve this" She says. "And, well, I think, pretty soon everyone else is gonna work that out too, right?" Wren grins. She hummed at Summer's silence whilst looking her up and down.
Wren walked away and headed back outside where everyone else was.
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"Hey, you okay?" Poppy questioned from a small distance as she walked over to Pandora.
Sitting in a lounge chair near the fire pit, Dory detached her focus from her phone and acknowledged Poppy.
"Yeah, I'm fine" Pandora smiled. Poppy gave her a look as she noticed Dory's shift in change of posture. "I am" The girl says. "You wanna talk about it?" Poppy asked, taking the chair next to feel more comfortable. Pandora rested her head on the back of the chair and turned it to look at Poppy.
"It's... just this is a new place for me, that's all" Pandora admits; "I'm not a social person. I would rather stick to the people that I know than make new friends".
"Not that I'm not down to be your friend," Dory says as Poppy tilts her head. "I just— sorry, I'm being weird!" She groans with a small laugh. "No! No, it's not... I get it" Poppy reassures her. "Meeting new people can be very stressful and intimidating for most" She added. "Especially if you can't read their minds on how they feel about you" Pandora says.
"Heh. Yeah, that'll make things so much easier" Poppy smiled. "Or worse" Dory points out. Poppy hums and looks back at her friends. "And I'm sure that it's no help that Summer hasn't introduced you to the crew yet" Poppy says. "No, she has!" Pandora nods with a slight smile.
"Just not in person. She talks about you guys and showed pictures, but that's about it".
"Makes sense" Poppy nods. "It's weird though. She's never really mentioned you before" She said. "I'm guessing your friendship with her is new?" Poppy questions. Pandora looked at Poppy with a brief shock before she held her head down, scoffing.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?" Poppy asked. She didn't want to make an enemy on the first night of meeting them. "I- No, you did nothing wrong, promise!" Dory placed her hand on Poppy's knee. She looks back at the patio, seeing that Wren had walked out. "S-So she's never mentioned me before?" Pandora questioned.
"I mean she said she had a close friend back in New York a few times last year, but never really much about... you, specifically" Poppy explains.
"You'd think after knowing each other since the fourth grade, and doing everything together that I would get mentioned more than a few times" Dory stated, chuckling.
Poppy frowns. "I get it though, she was busy with her mom, learning how to surf and such, so..." Pandora glanced at her wallpaper as her home screen lit up with a notification. "You seem cool though!" Dory tells Poppy with a genuine smile. "You're Poppy, right?" Pandora questions. "The one and only" Poppy grins.
"I'm sure you know Ari, Marlon, and Bodhi but I'll introduce you to them again, in person, obviously whenever you're ready".
"Sweet" Pandora nods. Receiving a text on her phone, Dory finally checks it. "Uh, sorry, can you give me a minute?" Pandora questioned as she sat up. "Sure" Poppy nods, getting up herself. Poppy leaves her sight and Dory bites down on her bottom lip.
Seeing her notifications, Pandora throws her head back and looks at the night sky. "Not now" She muttered. Pandora only had two missed calls and one unread message. That shouldn't be a big deal, right? But, to her, it was.
Especially since it was from the one person she didn't want to be bothered by on her break from everyday life.
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Birthgiver <3 We need to talk.
Pandora powers her phone down and pushes her phone into her back pocket.
She could deal with her mother's temper another day. Tonight, she was going to celebrate the big night with her best friend— once she found her, of course. "Hey, you're back!" Poppy chuckled. "Uh, yeah..." Dory nods. "You wanna dance?" She asked as the music changed.
"Yes!" Poppy agreed as grabbed ahold of Dory's hand, leading her to a good spot.
Summer eventually did walk out of the house, catching the eyes of three for a brief moment. Baxter Radic, Ari Gibson, and Pandora Falstar. Pandora gave Summer a look before she smiled down at Poppy as they both danced. "That was weird" Summer says to herself.
